Chapter 1
Remus walked into work as usual. He was holding his wooden cane and his suitcase. He worked as a English teacher at his local high school and he loved it. All the kids loved him and he was on good terms with all of the other teachers. He'd had several students come out to him over the years, some of which even admitted that they had a crush on him at some point. He didn't mind too much because it was quite funny to be honest. He didn't understand why they would have a crush on him though; he was covered in scars, he hobbled, he used a cane and he was type one diabetic. His husband would tell him that these attributes just made him more beautiful but Sirius was prone to saying such things and Remus really didn't understand it.
Remus sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop to get up his PowerPoint presentation for his students' lesson. Today, they were going to be starting a new unit on Hamlet, one of Remus' favourite plays of Shakespeare's. He had about twenty minutes before his students were going to start arriving so he decided to stand up and go to the staff room to get himself a cup of tea. Just as he was making this decision however there was a knock at the door.
"Yes?" Remus said kindly "who's there?"
"It's me... Harry Potter, sir" a little voice came timidly from behind the door.
"Ah, of course. Come in, come in." Remus said, standing up and opening the door with a kind smile on his face.
Harry was fidgeting and looked very anxious and nervous
"Sit down, please, tell me what's wrong." Remus said. He was worried because it was unlike his best friend's son to be this anxious. He was usually quite confident but he seemed like a completely different person.
"I-i-it's the other students, they were saying stuff about my father and they were kicking me and calling me..." Harry coughed to stop himself from crying, unable to finish his sentence.
Remus thought he could figure out what was going on. He'd heard that Harry was being bullied because the other kids had been making up rumours about James and Lily. It wasn't fair on Harry at all, he was only thirteen after all. It wasn't even true, Lily was dating the drama teacher Pandora.
"Oh, that's awful, Harry. Come sit down, you can have a chocolate from my box if you want, you look like you need something sweet right now" Remus said, going straight into comforting Harry. He'd figure out who was hurting him when he'd calmed down. Remus was known for being the teacher that everyone went to for help because he'd always be kind and offer you chocolate.
"T-thank you, sir" Harry replied and took out a piece of chocolate from the box on Remus' desk.
Harry ate his chocolate slowly and calmed down.
After a few moments, Remus spoke up "could you tell me the names of the students who were tormenting you? I need to write up a report so I can help you."
Harry shook his head.
Remus understood this to mean Harry knew their names but couldn't say because they'd most likely threatened him if he'd say anything.
"It's okay, Harry. There's no one else in this room and no one will find out that it was you who said anything." Remus said in a soothing voice.
Harry nodded then said quietly "it was Daemion and Severus"
"Snape and Mulciber?" Remus asked for confirmation.
Harry nodded shakily.
Those two boys were always causing trouble. They were three years above Harry and they were always tormenting the younger boys and girls.
"I'll talk to Ms McGonagall about it" Remus said, determined to sort out this bullying situation.
Ms Minerva McGonagall was the headmistress of the high school, she'd been headmistress since Remus went to school and perhaps before. She had always had a soft spot for Remus and his friends, she'd even let Sirius call her Minnie and she'd taken on a maternal role after Sirius had run away from his horribly abusive parents. Sirius had lived with their mutual friend James Potter and his parents until Remus and Sirius had been able to afford their own flat to live in.
"You've got music first thing, don't you, Harry? Tell your godfather I said hi for me, would you?" Remus said, acting like he was just asking casually.
"Sure, I'll tell your husband that you said hi" Harry said with an eyeroll. He was one of the few people they'd told when they'd gotten married. They weren't public about their marriage because they weren't sure how the school board would act if they knew two gay men were teaching their children. Ms McGonagall knew because there was no hiding these things from her but they hadn't told many others. Only Harry, Sirius' brother Regulus, the P.E. teacher James Potter, who was their childhood friend and Lily Evans, their other childhood friend who taught art knew.
Remus thought he was rather lucky that he was able to teach at the same school as his best friends and husband. It was a peaceful, happy life. He wondered what heartbreak he had gone through in a previous life to deserve such tranquility.
The bell rang, snapping Remus out of his thoughts. Harry had left the classroom, when had he left? His students weren't in the classroom yet but Remus remembered that that was because there was an anti-bullying assembly today before class so Remus got up and went and got himself a cup of tea from the staff room and a biscuit because his blood sugars were dropping.